Firm Leadership

In 1998, Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, III and Nelson W. Cunningham left the Clinton White House to found a new type of professional services firm that would bring diplomatic and policy expertise to aid corporate decision-making and solve clients’ problems in global markets.

McLarty and Cunningham helped define the field of private sector diplomacy, drawing from experiences as CEO of a Fortune 500 natural gas company, as Chairman of McLarty Companies, a fourth-generation family transportation business in Arkansas, as an investor in Latin America and Asia, and as Chief of Staff and Special Envoy for the Americas in the Clinton White House.

Since then, co-founders McLarty and Cunningham, with Vice Chairman John D. Negroponte and Managing Partners Stephen C. Donehoo, Kellie Meiman Hock, and Richard Burt have grown McLarty Associates from a three-person firm specializing in Latin America to a global firm with nearly 100 professionals, offices in four countries, and associates in over twenty countries around the world.

Our firm leaders built and expanded the firm over the past two decades — and continue to be actively involved in client service on a daily basis.

Private
Sector
Diplomacy

We reflect our founder’s DNA:

Our people have served at the highest levels of government, but we bring a business orientation to our work.

We build relationships that last — with our clients and with our colleagues.

We’re a global firm with a Main Street culture, stemming from McLarty’s Arkansas roots.

And we’re engaged — with our clients and with the critical policy issues facing the world today.